Non-fiction overview of the incarceration experience written for middle school readers. One of the relatively few such books written for this age group, it is part of Enslow Publishers' "In American History" series.

Additional Information

Author David K. Fremon (1949–99) was a well-known political writer in the Chicago area, known for his acclaimed book
Chicago Politics Ward By Ward
(1988) and for his contributions to the
Chicago Tribune
and other publications. He began writing books for young people in the 1990s and authored several other titles for Enslow including works on the Alaska Purchase, Watergate, Oskar Schindler and others who aided Holocaust victims, the Salem witchcraft trials, Jim Crow, and the Great Depression.
Japanese-American Internment in American History
is based entirely on secondary sources, with the exception of a 1994 interview with Shigeo Wakamatsu, a Chicago area Nisei community leader.

Though
Japanese-American Internment in American History
is sympathetic to Japanese Americans, it contains many errors. Some of these exaggerate deprivations faced by Japanese Americans or their positive reactions to them, for instance mostly false claims that "[w]hite camp employees read evacuees' incoming and outgoing mail" (page 66) or the exaggerated claim that "sixteen thousand Nisei served in the Pacific" (86; the correct figure is about 6,000). Fremon also claims the
442nd Regimental Combat Team
"saw action in Europe in the fall of 1943" (82; they didn't get there until June of 1944).

Accounts of many key events contain errors or misinterpretations. In his account of the
Manzanar uprising
, Fremon has
Harry Ueno
in prison as
Fred Tayama
is being beaten up (68); Ueno was in prison because he was accused of beating Tayama! His account of the
Mitsuye Endo
habeas corpus
case has Endo contacting the
Japanese American Citizens League
(JACL) who secured lawyers for her (94). While Endo was among those who contacted the JACL, it was for a completely separate matter, that of being among Nisei workers fired by the State of California prior to exclusion. Months later, she was approached by attorney
James Purcell
about taking part in the
habeas corpus
case. Fremon also refers to her choosing to remain in Tule Lake while the case wound its way to the Supreme Court; however, she had moved to
Topaz
after
segregation
in 1943. Fremon also largely mischaracterizes the
draft resistance
movement, blaming it on "insulting documents" that draftees had to fill out. There are similar types of errors in accounts of the
Korematsu
case
and of the redress movement.

Finally there are numerous cases of misidentifying or mischaracterizing people, titles, and camps. In a map of the WRA camps and "assembly centers,"
Merced
is mistakenly identified as a WRA camp (55), the
Rafu Shimpo
newspaper is referred to as the
Rufu Shimpo
(125), and
Bill Hosokawa
's notable 1969 book is comically mis-titled
Nisei: The Outlet Americans
(124). Historian Roger Daniels is "Roger Davis" (54), John Christgau is "John Christgan," Daniel Okimoto is "David I. Okimoto," and Stephen S. Fugita is "Steven S. Fujita" (all on 124–25). The WRA is referred to as the WPA (96).

In 2015, Enslow reissued the book in a new format under the title
The Internment of Japanese Americans in United States History
. This 96-page volume contains the same text as the original version, but without photographs or the "Source Documents" found in the earlier publication. It does include a new (and much briefer) "Further Reading" section. Other than the ones in the old "Further Readings" section (pp. 124–25), all errors remain in the new book.

For More Information

Learn more in the Densho Encyclopedia, a free on-line resource covering the key concepts, people, events, and organizations that played a role in the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Genre

Chronology

Point of View

Theme

Availability

Free On Web

Teacher Guide

Learn more in the Densho Encyclopedia, a free on-line resource covering the key concepts, people, events, and organizations that played a role in the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Useful Links

The Resource Guide to Media on the Japanese American Removal and Incarceration is a free project of Densho. Our mission is to preserve the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II before their memories are extinguished. We offer these irreplaceable firsthand accounts, coupled with historical images and teacher resources, to explore principles of democracy, and promote equal justice for all.